Enough ventilation?

[Harmony Fowl]

So they won’t be shut in this area except at night to roost and have it opened to be in the covered open area during the day for fresh air and sunshine. If that’s the case it maybe enough, Or you may want to mirror the same gap on the front as the back as long as it’s high above the roost as to not cause a direct draft on them but move air over their head. This is just my opinion as I believe in a lot of ventilation as long as they are dry and no draft blowing on them.

I think this is going to be our plan. I’m going to have them remove the top board on the front of the coop and replace that with hardware cloth. Your assessment of my description was correct.

 

[aart]

On the subject of natural lighting, we have the idea we’ve been playing with of replacing all or part of the roof with translucent plastic roofing. That will be accomplished at a later date, but . . . good idea? Bad idea?

If coop is in good deep shade in summer it would be great, especially if that shade is deciduous trees so you'll get solar gain in winter. If not in shade, could overheat the coop in summer.

The ventilation 'rules of thumb' is not carved in stone(like any other rule of thumb).
Depends on population, prevailing winds, surrounding structures/micro-climate, manure management, etc.
Put as much in as you can, make it flexible(closing, dampening, opening) to work all year round. Vent/window covers are best top hinged so they can be left open during rains.

Pics of outside of coop/run would help here.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I took some more pictures. No trees, but, in case the pictures don’t tell the story, our home and the coop are on a little shelf on a hillside. The hill above us keeps the house and coop in shade until late in the morning (it’s 9:30 and we’re still very much in shadow.) Perhaps I can do just one translucent panel to let light in and do the rest opaque. It does seem like it could overheat in the summer when temps can reach the 90s easily and we get the full western sun uninterrupted.

First pic is the front, where you can see the additional covered space. Second pic is the back, as best I can photograph it given the hillside. Third pic is the stakes out but as yet unfenced run. The last pic is the garden space adjacent to the run, which the chickens will have access to in the off season. Depending on the weather, the age of our birds and whether we are home, we do plan to do some free ranging, too.

 

[Akrnaf2]

IMHO you should create a chimney affect.
You should leave some openings in the bottom of the coop walls, and an opening in the highest point of the coop roof ( keep it predators and rain saif!) The bodies of the chickens and the microbial activities in the composting litter and shavings on the coop floor will heat the coop air, and because hot air us lighter it will go out from the roof opening drawing fresh air from the walls opening, cousing circulation of air, that take out the ammonia fumes from your coop.

 

[lazy gardener]

Which is the default? 10% of the floor space would mean we’re close with what we have. The back span of hardware cloth stretches the full ten foot length. I don’t know how tall the gap is , but we can make the difference up up front. If the square foot pet bird is more important, we have some more finagling to do.

Below posts have covered it the issue well!

On the subject of natural lighting, we have the idea we’ve been playing with of replacing all or part of the roof with translucent plastic roofing. That will be accomplished at a later date, but . . . good idea? Bad idea?

Good. But, birds, being the nosy creatures that they are also LOVE being able to look out a window.

Or you may want to mirror the same gap on the front as the back as long as it’s high above the roost as to not cause a direct draft on them but move air over their head.

The ventilation 'rules of thumb' is not carved in stone(like any other rule of thumb).
Depends on population, prevailing winds, surrounding structures/micro-climate, manure management, etc.
Put as much in as you can, make it flexible(closing, dampening, opening) to work all year round. Vent/window covers are best top hinged so they can be left open during rains.

Agree with all of Aart's post.

IMHO you should create a chimney affect.
You should leave some openings in the bottom of the coop walls, and an opening in the highest point of the coop roof ( keep it predators and rain saif!) The bodies of the chickens and the microbial activities in the composting litter and shavings on the coop floor will heat the coop air, and because hot air us lighter it will go out from the roof opening drawing fresh air from the walls opening, cousing circulation of air, that take out the ammonia fumes from your coop.

Heat rises! Cold air intake low, warm air outlet above.

 

[NNYchick]

I think your on the right track. If it was mine I’d leave the coop and covered area the way it is, put them in the enclosed area just to roost at night. Then come out away from covered and fence in the uncovered area with bird netting on top to keep aerial predators at bay, that way they have a place during the day with sun and not too dark but can go into to covered area if they need too get out of the elements.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

This is awesome, thank you all so much. We will put netting over the smaller area where the chickens will live full time. We will definitely mirror the opening on the back with an opening on the front, as much as possible. I understand the explanation of the chimney effect and I’m glad that was brought up. I had not thought of that. I think it’s worth doing; now just to figure out a way to do it. It has to be low, right? Like near the floor? I was thinking we could slice a few openings in the middle of the boards near the bottom. Like a drawer, cutting out where the drawer handle would be. Would a few of those be sufficient?

 

[aart]

It has to be low, right? Like near the floor? I was thinking we could slice a few openings in the middle of the boards near the bottom. Like a drawer, cutting out where the drawer handle would be. Would a few of those be sufficient?

That would work(top hinge ) just be careful not the create a cross breeze that blows on the roost.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

That would work(top hinge ) just be careful not the create a cross breeze that blows on the roost.

If we put them just on one side, would that prevent creating a draft?

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I went outside and measured and mathed some. There is a little over 7.5 square feet of ventilation on the one side. There’s a little more, another foot, maybe, on the front side.